NAME

SYNOPSIS

REQUIRES

EXPORTS

DESCRIPTION

This module defines some basic input objects used by Pod::Parser when reading and parsing POD text from an input source. The following objects are defined:

Pod::Paragraph

An object corresponding to a paragraph of POD input text. It may be a plain paragraph, a verbatim paragraph, or a command paragraph (see perlpod).

Pod::InteriorSequence

An object corresponding to an interior sequence command from the POD input text (see perlpod).

Pod::ParseTree

An object corresponding to a tree of parsed POD text. Each "node" in a parse-tree (or ptree) is either a text-string or a reference to a Pod::InteriorSequence object. The nodes appear in the parse-tree in they order in which they were parsed from left-to-right.

Each of these input objects are described in further detail in the sections which follow.

Pod::Paragraph

An object representing a paragraph of POD input text. It has the following methods/attributes:

This is a class method that constructs a Pod::Paragraph object and returns a reference to the new paragraph object. It may be given one or two keyword arguments. The -text keyword indicates the corresponding text of the POD paragraph. The -name keyword indicates the name of the corresponding POD command, such as head1 or item (it should not contain the = prefix); this is needed only if the POD paragraph corresponds to a command paragraph. The -file and -line keywords indicate the filename and line number corresponding to the beginning of the paragraph

cmd_name()

my $para_cmd = $pod_para->cmd_name();

If this paragraph is a command paragraph, then this method will return the name of the command (without any leading = prefix).

text()

my $para_text = $pod_para->text();

This method will return the corresponding text of the paragraph.

raw_text()

my $raw_pod_para = $pod_para->raw_text();

This method will return the raw text of the POD paragraph, exactly as it appeared in the input.

cmd_prefix()

my $prefix = $pod_para->cmd_prefix();

If this paragraph is a command paragraph, then this method will return the prefix used to denote the command (which should be the string "=" or "==").

cmd_separator()

my $separator = $pod_para->cmd_separator();

If this paragraph is a command paragraph, then this method will return the text used to separate the command name from the rest of the paragraph (if any).

file_line()

Returns the current filename and line number for the paragraph object. If called in an array context, it returns a list of two elements: first the filename, then the line number. If called in a scalar context, it returns a string containing the filename, followed by a colon (':'), followed by the line number.

Pod::InteriorSequence

An object representing a POD interior sequence command. It has the following methods/attributes:

This is a class method that constructs a Pod::InteriorSequence object and returns a reference to the new interior sequence object. It should be given two keyword arguments. The -ldelim keyword indicates the corresponding left-delimiter of the interior sequence (e.g. '<'). The -name keyword indicates the name of the corresponding interior sequence command, such as I or B or C. The -file and -line keywords indicate the filename and line number corresponding to the beginning of the interior sequence.

cmd_name()

my $seq_cmd = $pod_seq->cmd_name();

The name of the interior sequence command.

prepend()

$pod_seq->prepend($text);
$pod_seq1->prepend($pod_seq2);

Prepends the given string or parse-tree or sequence object to the parse-tree of this interior sequence.

append()

$pod_seq->append($text);
$pod_seq1->append($pod_seq2);

Appends the given string or parse-tree or sequence object to the parse-tree of this interior sequence.

nested()

$outer_seq = $pod_seq->nested || print "not nested";

If this interior sequence is nested inside of another interior sequence, then the outer/parent sequence that contains it is returned. Otherwise undef is returned.

raw_text()

my $seq_raw_text = $pod_seq->raw_text();

This method will return the raw text of the POD interior sequence, exactly as it appeared in the input.

left_delimiter()

my $ldelim = $pod_seq->left_delimiter();

The leftmost delimiter beginning the argument text to the interior sequence (should be "<").

right_delimiter()

The rightmost delimiter beginning the argument text to the interior sequence (should be ">").

file_line()

Returns the current filename and line number for the interior sequence object. If called in an array context, it returns a list of two elements: first the filename, then the line number. If called in a scalar context, it returns a string containing the filename, followed by a colon (':'), followed by the line number.

DESTROY()

This method performs any necessary cleanup for the interior-sequence. If you override this method then it is imperative that you invoke the parent method from within your own method, otherwise interior-sequence storage will not be reclaimed upon destruction!

Pod::ParseTree

This object corresponds to a tree of parsed POD text. As POD text is scanned from left to right, it is parsed into an ordered list of text-strings and Pod::InteriorSequence objects (in order of appearance). A Pod::ParseTree object corresponds to this list of strings and sequences. Each interior sequence in the parse-tree may itself contain a parse-tree (since interior sequences may be nested).

new()

This is a class method that constructs a Pod::Parse_tree object and returns a reference to the new parse-tree. If a single-argument is given, it mist be a reference to an array, and is used to initialize the root (top) of the parse tree.

top()

This method gets/sets the top node of the parse-tree. If no arguments are given, it returns the topmost node in the tree (the root), which is also a Pod::ParseTree. If it is given a single argument that is a reference, then the reference is assumed to a parse-tree and becomes the new top node. Otherwise, if arguments are given, they are treated as the new list of children for the top node.

children()

This method gets/sets the children of the top node in the parse-tree. If no arguments are given, it returns the list (array) of children (each of which should be either a string or a Pod::InteriorSequence. Otherwise, if arguments are given, they are treated as the new list of children for the top node.

prepend()

This method prepends the given text or parse-tree to the current parse-tree. If the first item on the parse-tree is text and the argument is also text, then the text is prepended to the first item (not added as a separate string). Otherwise the argument is added as a new string or parse-tree before the current one.

append()

This method appends the given text or parse-tree to the current parse-tree. If the last item on the parse-tree is text and the argument is also text, then the text is appended to the last item (not added as a separate string). Otherwise the argument is added as a new string or parse-tree after the current one.

raw_text()

my $ptree_raw_text = $ptree->raw_text();

This method will return the raw text of the POD parse-tree exactly as it appeared in the input.

DESTROY()

This method performs any necessary cleanup for the parse-tree. If you override this method then it is imperative that you invoke the parent method from within your own method, otherwise parse-tree storage will not be reclaimed upon destruction!